''The Champion'' is a 1915 American silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

released by Essanay Studios, starring

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

alongside Edna Purviance and

Leo White Leo White (November 10, 1873 – September 20, 1948), was a German-born British-American film and stage actor who appeared as a character actor in many Charlie Chaplin films. Biography Born in Germany to Julius White and Ida Berg White, White g ...

. Essanay co-owner and star,

Broncho Billy Anderson Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson; March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western film genre. He was a founder and star ...

can be seen as an enthusiastic audience member in the boxing match scene.

Plot

In this comedy, Charlie Chaplin has a companion—a pet bulldog. Walking along a street with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes the training camp of an enormous fighter named Spike Dugan. Outside the camp is a large, painted advertisement which states Dugan is seeking sparring partners "who can take a punch." After watching other better fighters be soundly beaten by Dugan, Charlie decides his best bet is to put the horseshoe inside his boxing glove. Using the loaded glove, Charlie connects with a solid punch and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.

Notes

In some versions of the film, an inter-title introducing the heavyweight boxers refers to Spike Dugan as "Spike Hennessey"—although the surname Dugan is clearly painted on the wall surrounding his training camp. This was the second Chaplin film to focus on boxing. He had already made a comedy for Keystone Studios, titled '' The Knockout'' (1914), in which he was a secondary character—a boxing referee. In ''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American synchronized sound film, sound romance film, romantic comedy drama, comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a ...

'' (1931) he would again play an outsized and outclassed pugilist.

Cast

as Challenger * Edna Purviance as Trainer's daughter * Ernest Van Pelt as Spike Dugan *

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage, and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director, he made films in numerous genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, and c ...

as Second sparring partner / Referee *

as Crooked gambler * Carl Stockdale as Sparring partner * Billy Armstrong as Sparring partner *

Paddy McGuire Paddy McGuire (né McQuire, 1884 – November 16, 1923) was an Irish actor and comedian. Biography Paddy McQuire was born in Ireland in 1884 or 1885. A burlesque comedian with a rubber face, McQuire was a regular supporting player in the film ...

as Sparring partner * Bud Jamison as Bob Uppercut, Champion *

Ben Turpin Bernard "Ben" Turpin (September 19, 1869 – July 1, 1940) was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films. His trademarks were his Esotropia, cross-eyed appearance and adeptness at vigorous physical comedy ...

as Ringside vendor

Production

''The Champion'' was filmed entirely on location in downtown

Niles, California Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Fr ...

, at the corner of G Street and Niles Boulevard, around the Essanay Studio, as the second of five films Chaplin made for Essanay in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

before returning to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to finish out his one-year contract with Essanay. The roots of ''The Champion'' go back to a Fred Karno troupe music hall sketch "The Football Match", in particular, the scene in which Leo White attempts to bribe the Tramp to throw the boxing match and the climatic fight evokes a Fred Karno troupe favourite, ''The Yap Yaps'', as well as the Chaplin- Arbuckle Keystone short '' The Knockout''.

References

External links